Archive | Beauty

I love living in London; originally I came from
Scotland (although I am English) and even mum says that from the day I could
walk, I wanted to be on a pavement, not a country lane! So I came to London as
soon as I possibly could at age seventeen, got a job, found a flat and have
never even considered living elsewhere. I still even sometimes get that stomach
flip coming over a bridge across the Thames on the train to get to central
London – it is still exciting to live here.?

I’m intrigued by the Bex London fragrance portfolio
which celebrates areas of London. I love that they haven’t gone for all the
obvious places but have actually considered the other parts of London where it
isn’t so glossy, but it is still London. The fragrances are the brainchild of Rebecca
Goswell who worked with perfumer Francois Robert and the initial presentation
is a capsule collection in high concentration.?The boxes are created by London based artist, Finn O’Brien and they’re
stunning.?

Each fragrance is named by postcode, so you have SE1
Notables; spicy and atmospheric to represent the old Thameside spice wharfs.
Next is N6 Notables that brings Highgate Village to life through fragrance.
It’s interesting with this one that it is a chypre with lots of fruity notes,
such as peach, mandarin and raspberry.?EC2 Notable is a celebration of the creativity of the area and has fresh
notes such as lemon, lime and grapefruit. W1X Notable aims to capture the
sophistication of the west-end with coriander, bergamot and mandarin.?

Personally, I find conceptual fragrances quite hard to
get my head round; I like a fragrance to be called Orange fragrance (for
example) and then for it to smell like oranges. And, I am sure as I can be that
nobody really can distinguish notes in layers as they are laid out in top,
middle and bottom notes. You will just pick up what your nose dictates.
However, this is a young British brand with some innovative and exciting
concepts in the fragrance market and I hope it does really well. Find them HERE

I wish I could pull off red lipstick like Kristen Stewart here. I think its so glamorous and reminds me a bit of those pretty starlets of the 1950-s. All you’d need for the sexy sultry look is a set of false lashes, some black liner and red lipstick. Maybe a little powder.

Unfortunately for me, the red lipstick makes my pale skin look sallow and my big mouth is highlighted by the bright red. So basically I will never wear that color. But for those of you who can, I urge you to do it! Wear bright red lipstick and have fun.

I asked Stacey Ellis of Byu-Ti Salon to help detail Kristen’s look (minus the red lipstick on her front tooth). And here’s how to look like you are walking the red carpet:

Get This Red Hot Look with M.A.C Cosmetics

Face: Apply Mineralize Satin Finish Foundation with a sponge, to even out the skin tone.? Dust on the Iridescent Loose Powder on a large powder brush.

Place a dot of each color on your plate. Also fill your nail polish remover cap with nail polish remover. The colors above are American Apparel “Angeline” and “The Valley + Wet & Wild “Club Havana”.

Paint the base of your nails with something light and wait until they dry completely. I used Alpine Snow by O.P.I.

Dip one of your small paint brushes in the nail polish remover and use it to dilute the polish drops. You want to add a few drops of polish remover in the nail polish until it starts to look thin and “stain-like”.

Then using a dabbing motion, create abstract flower shapes on each nail. Leave room for the other colors too.

Use your other brushes to dilute the other colors the same way. Don’t mix your brushes in different colors!

Apply the other colors. Create as many abstract flowers as you want. Don’t stress about the shape. Some of the messy flowers ended up being my favorite!

Now take a drop of the white paint from your base coat and dilute that using nail polish remover, just like you did with the other polishes.

Apply a VERY thin dot of white on the center of each flower. If you diluted it enough, it will slowly spread over the flower when you put the drop down. If not, thin your white polish out a little more. When you put the white drop on top, it gives the flowers a more faded look.

Wait for everything to dry and give it a good quick dry top coat.

Good luck with your pretty faded florals and as always, tweet us a picture when you’re done!

(Special thanks to Kimberly, our new nail intern for showing us this technique!!)

Paul’s Boutique Maisie Bag

I don’t even know who Paul is and have only really come across this brand while wandering through Selfridges, but what I do know is that I LOVE patent, and particularly nude patent shades. I can see this looking equally fab with jeans and a shirt or with a summer dress; it’s a dusky pinky-nude patent that’s really, really pretty – I find with nude patent shoes that if it goes too flesh-toned it starts to look a little bit ‘false limb’ which is just a bit creepy unless you do actually have a false limb. This bag is the right shade of nude to go with just about anything, and easily translatable for winter as well with the coffee shade details. At £61 it doesn’t fall into the stupid-money-for-a- bag category and looks pretty expensive.It’s HERE

Okay, so this isn’t the prettiest thing in the world, but it’s got to be one of the most useful. The TanGro, £34.26, is made from breathable 95% cotton and the concept is totally simple – it stops you getting self-tan on your sheets, your sofa or your chairs. One of the things that puts me off self-tanning is the inevitable brown patches on the sheets.. that’s really never going to look good, and also the wandering around naked while the tan dries – even when it does, it only takes a slight over-heat and any sweat mutates into pale brown stains. The Tangro is perfect for covering up and carrying on with normal life while your tan takes, and I love the idea of one piece of clothing that I don’t have to care about, but just shove in the wash whenever it needs it. I wish I’d thought of it. Find it HERE

On a side note, the DHA free Melvita self tan that I’ve been using gives me the most perfect, gentle golden glow, but didn’t react the same way on a much paler-skinned friend. She found it quite difficult to get a good colour going. I really wanted to find out why, so contacted Melvita to find out. Melvita sent me the answer, here:

“There are 2 reasons why the product reacts differently to different skin types;

> · If before tanning and during tanning preparation people
use soap or shower products with a PH around neutral this can cause the
product not to work as effectively as the Erythrulose does not react
properly with the skin. Ideally it is best to use shower gel or similar with a PH between 5.4 and 5.6. > · If people have fairer more fragile skin then often the
‘dead cell’ layer is thinner, resulting in a lower intensity in colour
as the active ingredients to not react as well to the top layer of the
skin. ”

I’m so lazy about changing my ear-rings and also super-fussy, too…usually I just wear a pair of plain gold hoops and really have to be in an ear-ring mood to be bothered to change them. Like many people, I can only usually tolerate gold without getting an allergic reaction, but have found that I can use Banana Republic ear-rings without a flare-up (BR jewellery is really worth checking out – it’s well priced and looks more expensive than it is).

However, these little gems above from Swarovski Elements by Hely Designs are exactly the kind of ear-rings that would shake me out of my lazy ways.. they’re so pretty, so summery and so perfect to wear with a stylish maxi-dress; they make me think of holidays and hot days. They’re gold-plated and cost £59, here

“Nicki Minaj Look” was originally posted by Phyrra on Phyrra | Beauty for the Bold. Phyrra.net by Phyrra is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. If you are reading this anywhere other than Phyrra.net it has been stolen and is being used without permission. All rights are reserved by the author.

Hazel eyes are also a dream for makeup because like brown eyes, most shades are harmonious next to them, but with their green undertones and hints of gold and even grey, hazel eyes sparkle and are hard to take your eyes off of! Here are a few of my favorite tips + palettes:

FRAME IT BLACK: If you really want to demand all the attention to your eyes, frame them by rimming the inner waterline with a black kajal or longwear liner. Our favorites: Estee Lauder Pure Color Intense Kajal Liner in Blackened Black or Blackened Plum (perfect to contrast the hazel!) or NARS Larger than Life Liner in Via Veneto.

HAZY SHADES OF PURPLE: When you want to bring out the green part of your eyes, turn to lavender and violet like Nicole and Mara. Try Yves Saint Laurent Ombres 5 Lumieres Palette, the mecca in the world of purple palettes.